Drawer guide rail assembly with releaseably secured bumpers

ABSTRACT

A guide rail assembly is used with a drawer to guide the movement of the drawer into and out of an article of furniture. The assembly has a supporting rail attached to a supporting surface and a pull-out rail attached to the drawer. At least one carriage is positioned between the supporting rail and the pull-out rail, and the supporting rail and the pull-out rail have stops for limiting movement of the pull-out rail and the carriage with respect to the supporting rail. The impact associated with closing the drawer is absorbed and suppressed by releaseably secured bumpers which engage stops controlling each of the drawers during opening and closing. The bumpers may be changed to adjust to drawers or drawer contents of varying weights.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a guide rail assembly for use with adrawer and, more particularly, to an assembly to guide the movement ofthe drawer into and out of an article of furniture that includes the useof releaseably secured bumpers for controlling and partially absorbingthe impact of the drawer opening and closing.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Slidable drawer opening and closing devices are well known andconventionally utilize supporting and slidably connected guide rails andrail engaging slides to support the drawer within its frame and allowfor openable and closeable movement therein. These devices are usuallymade of hard materials such as plastic which can cause excessive noisewhen the drawer is closed. Some devices have been developed to at leastpartially suppress such noise. Flexible buffers and yieldable stops aresometimes implemented in slide assemblies to soften the impact of thedrawer closing. Sometimes shock absorbers are used to deal with thedrawer closing noise. Even with such improvements, closure noise usuallyis directly related to the force used in the closing exercise and canstill frequently occur unless the individual involved is very sensitiveto the need to carefully and slowly close the drawer and avoid thenoise.

Thus it is apparent that more controlled and effective drawer closurenoise management is very desirable, and it is to that end that thepresent invention is directed.

SUMMARY AND OBJECTIVES OF THE INVENTION

The present invention includes a guide rail assembly for use with adrawer to guide the movement of the drawer into and out of an article offurniture. The assembly is made up of a supporting rail mounted to asupporting surface such as a furniture side wall, a pull-out railattached to the drawer and at least one carriage positioned between thesupporting rail and the pull-out rail. The supporting rail and thepull-out rail have at least one stop for limiting movement of thepull-out rail and carriage with respect to the supporting rail. The atleast one carriage is provided with one or more flexible bumpers toabsorb the impact of drawer opening and closing and control the noiseassociated with that activity. The bumpers are removable and can bechanged in size or capacity to adjust to changes in drawer or drawercontent weight.

From the foregoing summary, it can be see seen that a primary objectiveof the present invention is to provide a rail guide assembly that hasall of the advantages of prior art devices and more and none of thedisadvantages.

Another primary objective of the present invention is to provide guiderail closing assembly that suppresses noise when the drawer on which itis mounted is opened or closed.

Yet another objective of the present invention is to provide a railguide assembly having interchangeable bumpers to reduce noise associatedwith drawer opening and closure.

Thus there has been outlined the more important features of theinvention in order that the detailed description that follows may bebetter understood and in order that the present contribution to the artmay be better appreciated. There are, of course, additional features ofthe invention that will be described hereinafter and which will form thesubject matter of the claims appended hereto. In that respect, beforeexplaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail, it is tobe understood that the invention is not limited in its arrangement ofthe components set forth in the following description and illustrated inthe drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of beingpracticed and carried out in various ways.

It is also to be understood that the phraseology and terminologyemployed herein are for the purpose of description and should not beregarded as limiting in any respect. Those skilled in the art willappreciate that the concept upon which this disclosure is based mayreadily be utilized as a basis for designing other structures, methodsand systems for carrying out the several purposes of this development.It is important that the claims be regarded as including such equivalentmethods and products resulting therefrom that do not depart from thespirit and scope of the present invention. The application is neitherintended to define the invention, which is measured by its claims, norto limit its scope in any way.

Thus, the objects of the invention set forth above, along with thevarious features of novelty which characterize the invention, are notedwith particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of thisdisclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its operatingadvantages and the specific results obtained by its use, referenceshould be made to the following detailed specification taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein like characters ofreference designate like parts throughout the several views.

The drawings are included to provide a further understanding of theinvention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of thisspecification. They illustrate embodiments of the invention and,together with their description, serve to explain the principles of theinvention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a top perspective view of a fully opened drawer within a framesimulating an article of furniture incorporating the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a top perspective view of an intermediate rail in the drawerclose position showing the location of two carriages embodying thepresent invention;

FIG. 3 is a top perspective view of the rail shown in FIG. 2 in thedrawer open position showing the location of two carriages embodying thepresent invention;

FIG. 4 is a top perspective view of a carriage embodying the presentinvention showing roller cages, rollers, one releaseably secured bumperin place and one removed;

FIG. 5 is a bottom perspective view of the carriage shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a side elevational view of the carriage shown in FIGS. 2-5;

FIG. 7 is an end elevational view of the carriage shown in FIGS. 2-6mounted on the intermediate rail with the bumper engaging a stop formedin the rail; and

FIG. 8 is an end elevational view of the rails and carriages of theguide rail assembly of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring now to the drawings and particularly to FIG. 1, drawer 10 ispositioned within a frame 12 in the open position, the frame simulatinga cabinet or chest. A guide rail assembly shown generally as 14 includesa supporting rail 16 fastened to a side wall 22, a pull-out rail 18fastened to the drawer 10, and an intermediate rail 20 positionedbetween supporting rail 16 and pull out rail 18. One or more carriages34 are located between pull-out rail 18 and intermediate rail 20, andintermediate rail 20 has at least one stop 28 for limiting movement ofpull-out rail 18 and carriage with respect to supporting rail 16.

The operating arrangement of the rails and carriages is shown in FIG. 8.Supporting rail 16 is attached to cabinet or frame wall 22, and pull-outrail 18 is secured to drawer side 43. Intermediate rail 20 is positionedbetween supporting rail 16 and pull-out rail 18. One or more carriages34 are positioned between pull-out rail 18 and intermediate rail 20. Oneor more additional carriages 36 are positioned between the upperhorizontal edge of intermediate rail 20 and the lower horizontal end ofsupporting rail 18.

Pull-out rail 18 is secured to drawer 10. When drawer 10 is opened,pull-out rail 18 and intermediate rail 20 move outwardly with the draweruntil intermediate rail 20 is about halfway extended outside the drawerfront opening. Here intermediate rail 20 engages a stop, and pull-outrail 18 then continues outwardly alone until it reaches its outermostposition. When drawer 10 is closed, pull-out rail 10 moves inwardlyalone, then engages intermediate rail 20 and the two rails move ontogether until engaging supporting rail 16 to fully close drawer 10.

FIG. 2 shows the positioning of carriages 34 on intermediate rail 20 inthe drawer close condition. When the drawer is opened, pull out rail 18moves outside the drawer and carriages move to the positions onintermediate rail 20 shown in FIG. 3.

The details of the carriage 34 used in the present guide rail assemblyare shown in FIGS. 4-7. Carriage 34 is made up of three walls 44, 46, 48that form a U-shaped member shown generally as 50. At least one of thewalls have one or more roller cages formed therein. At least one of thewalls 44, 46, 48 carry one or more releaseably secured resilientbumpers.

The preferred structure of carriage 34 is shown in FIG. 5 wherein eachwall 44, 46, 48 has two roller cages 52 with each cage supporting oneroller 54. The connecting wall 46 cooperatively receives bumpers 56, 58in appropriately designed recesses 60, 62. One bumper 56 is positionedin recess 60 on one edge 64 of wall 46, and the other bumper 58 ispositioned in recess 62 on the other edge 66 of wall 46.

A cross sectional view of carriage 34 mounted on intermediate rail 20 isshown in FIG. 7. Walls 44, 46, 48 wrap snugly around three sides ofintermediate rail 20 so that the rail-engaging rollers roll smoothly onthe three surfaces of rail 20 and provide even and unwavering drawermovement.

The present invention is usually applied to each side of a drawer sothat two units like that described are required for each drawer.However, a single unit of the present invention may be adapted for useon a single drawer, the unit being positioned midway of the drawer frontand adjacent the lower part of the frame or cabinet.

From the proceeding description, it can be seen that a guide railassembly has been provided that will posses all the advantages of priorart devices and offer additional advantages not heretofore achievable.With respect to the foregoing invention, the optimum dimensionalrelationship to the parts of the invention including variations in size,materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, use andassembly are deemed readily apparent to those skilled in the art, andall equivalent relationships illustrated in the drawings and describedin the specification are intended to be encompassed herein.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles ofthe invention. Numerous modifications and changes will readily occur tothose skilled in the art, and it is not desired to limit the inventionto the exact construction and operation shown and described. Allsuitable modifications and equivalents that fall within the scope of theappended claims are deemed within the present inventive concept.

1. A guide rail assembly for use on a drawer slide to guide movement ofthe drawer into and out of a furniture article comprising: a supportingrail mounted to a furniture side wall; a pull out rail secured to thedrawer; an intermediate rail mounted between the supporting rail and thepull out rail; at least one first carriage positioned between thesupporting rail and the pull out rail; at least one second carriageprovided between the intermediate rail and the pull out rail; the pullout rail, the supporting rail and the intermediate rail having at leastone stop for limiting movement of the pull out rail, the intermediaterail and the at least one first carriage with respect to the supportingrail, the at least one first carriage and the at least one secondcarriage having three walls forming a U-shaped member, each of the wallshaving one or more roller cages formed therein, and each of the rollercages houses at least one roller, and at least one of the walls havingat least one forwardly projecting bumper and at least one rearwardlyprojecting bumper carried thereby.
 2. The assembly as claimed in claim 1further comprising: a third carriage wherein the third carriage is heldbetween the stop of the intermediate rail and the stop of the pull outrail in the forward position.
 3. The assembly as claimed in claim 1wherein the second carriage has at least one bumper at the forward edgeof one wall and at least one bumper at the rearward edge of one wall. 4.The assembly as claimed in claim 1 wherein the bumper is rubber.
 5. Theassembly as claimed in claim 1 wherein the bumper is soft plastic. 6.The assembly as claimed in claim 2 wherein the second carriage has atleast one bumper at the forward edge of one wall and at least one bumperat the rearward edge of one wall.
 7. The assembly as claimed in claim 6wherein the bumper is rubber.
 8. The assembly as claimed in claim 6wherein the bumper is soft plastic.